Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!emory!mephisto!mcnc!thorin!johnson!oliver From: oliver@johnson.cs.unc.edu (Bill Oliver) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Educ. Discounts--how is CBM passing the word?? Message-ID: <12189@thorin.cs.unc.edu> Date: 22 Feb 90 14:55:39 GMT References: <11663@baldrick.udel.EDU> Sender: news@thorin.cs.unc.edu Reply-To: oliver@johnson.cs.unc.edu (Bill Oliver) Organization: University Of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Lines: 78 In article <11663@baldrick.udel.EDU> okay@tafs.mitre.org (Okay, S J) writes: > >However, when I got there, I asked them if they had any of the forms to fill >out, and got a look back from the salesdroid on duty which seemed to >ask if said >forms were anything remotely similar to a cheese sandwich. > >To make a long story short, they didn't have any and weren't participating, >primarily because they hadn't heard word one about it from CBM. A hardcopy of >one of the C.S.A. postings didn't help much each 'cause it didn't have the >familiar little blue and red 'C=' atop it. > >So, in light of all this, how is CBM informing dealers of the program??? It may not be Commodore's fault. I have been trying to get to a dealer which has the educational discount and have had a few problems. There are only three dealers within 100 miles of me. The first two are about 30 miles away, and the third is about 50 miles away. I went to the first dealer -- the software extension of B. Dalton's bookstore. They were aware of the program, but were not participating. I went to the second dealer -- a place called Digitz. They were participating, but the salesman was a complete incompetent who knew nothing about the Amiga hardware, nothing about the software available -- and insisted on charging *above* list price ($475 for C++? No, thanks), certainly knew nothing about computer science, and was obviously much more interested in selling PC clones to business customers. They wanted to charge $45 to install a second internal 3.5 inch drive. I still would have dealt with them (though I would have bought my software somewhere else), but one of the managers made the mistake of performing some sort of sexist insulting behavior towards my fiance (I wasn't there to see it), and to keep peace in my family I promised not to deal with them -- Her: "You are NOT going to give $5000 of *our* hard-earned money to those bastards!" Me:" Yes, dear." So, I called the place in Burlington, named Servatronic Technologies. The guy there was great -- he charges almost-mail-order for software, will install the internal drive for free, and seems to know his stuff. *But* when I first called him, the conversation ran something like Him: "Servatronics, may I help you." Me:"Yes, I'm interested in buying an Amiga 2500/30 bundle on the educational discount plan, and a fair amount of programming/utilities software. Are you participating in the program, and do you take University purchase orders?" Him:"Oh yeah, the educational discount. I think I remember Commodore sent me something about that a while ago. They had a bunch of papers they wanted me to fill out, and I'm not sure I ever got around to it. I don't know if I am participating or not. Let me call Commodore and see what the scoop is. I'll call you back this evening." Sure enough, he called back, and said that he could do it for me, but that he only had the original application form that Commodore sent him. He would make some copies the next day, and mail them to me. I'm still waiting, but it`s only been two days -- well within mail delay around here. Thus, the mall-store wasn't interested, the only place that *was* actively participating was an obvious it's-OK-to-overcharge-because-it's-a-tax-writeoff/grant-and-not- real-money kind of place, and the third place, which seems pretty cool as a local "family" dealer, had never bothered to send in the paperwork. I'd be willing to bet that your dealer was informed, but just never bothered to follow through on it. Bill Oliver